The Result of Recklessness
by SpunkRansom225
Summary: Being grounded doesn't always have to be a bad thing. New Moon AU.


"I am going to die of boredom!" Bella says to no one. She is alone in her room, with nothing to do but count the cracks in her ceiling. There are five. She should tell Charlie about it. No, she shouldn't, because she isn't talking to him. It's immature, she knows it is, but she just can't believe he has grounded her. _Her_, of all people! She is the best-behaved teenager in this whole damn town and here she is, grounded! And on a Saturday night, too.

This is all Embry and Quil's fault, she thinks.

"_You're chicken." _

"_I am not. I've ridden my bike plenty of times!" Bella defends herself against Embry._

"_Yes, but only in the safe places, where you can't get hurt," Quil chimes in._

"_Leave her alone," Jacob says._

"_Coming to your girlfriend's rescue once again, hey, Jakey?" Laughs Embry. _

"_I'm not his girlfriend," Bella says before the blush can even appear on Jacob's cheeks. _

"_Ouch, that's gotta hurt." Bella remains clueless to anything concerning her hurting Jacob's feelings and Jacob pretends the comment wasn't said, as usual._

"_So Bella, since you're not chicken, prove it." Bella doesn't like the gleam in Embry's eyes as he exchanges a look with Quil, but like a fool, she says, "Okay, I will."_

Riding on the rickety, gravelly road down by the lake in La Push had been a lot of fun, despite her initial fear of riding in a not-so-safe place. That is until she'd raced by Charlie, Harry and Billy, fishing poles in hand. Charlie was as red-faced as she'd ever seen him.

Which leads to now: Bella, bored out of her mind. Last time she ever listens to Quil and Embry, that's for sure.

Bella is in the middle of thinking of what she will do to pass time tomorrow – thankfully the last day of her week-long punishment – when she hears a soft, quick rapping at her window. She looks over to see Jacob slipping his fingers between the small opening between her window and the pane and pushing it open. He is in her room in no time, plopping down on her bed. "Hiya, Bells."

"Jacob, you can't be here! I'm grounded!"

"What can I say? I missed my best friend."

"You know, if Charlie knew you were here, my sentence would become even longer. Then you'd really miss me."

"I won't tell if you don't tell."

Bella smiles. "I won't."

"So what did you do all day?"

"I did homework, and more homework."

"That sounds terrible. Wanna play a game and shed a little light on your predicament?"

"Sure."

"I spy… um, something red."

"Really, Jake? This is a kid's game."

"C'mon, Bells. You've got nothing better to do."

"Fine." She looks around her bedroom. "The mouse pad," she guesses.

"Nope," Jacob says. Bella makes ten guesses until she figures out it's the sleeve of her red blouse poking out of her closet. They continue for a half hour with Jacob in the lead, guessing most of them without hints. Bella is waiting for him to take his next turn when he says, "I spy something beautiful."

Bella's head snaps up to meet his eyes. He's giving her this look that he's given her plenty of times before. It's the kind of look you see men give women in the movies and it scares her. Usually he's far enough away from her that she can ignore it and turn her attention to something else, but him lying next to her is a different story.

She begins to say her usual line.

_Jacob, we're just friends; best friends. _

She barely gets his name out before he's kissing her. His lips are soft.

He pulls away and she doesn't know what to say. He takes care of that for her. "I know you were going to say what you always say, but I won't believe it anymore if you ever do say it again. Want to know why?"

She nods, still in shock.

"Because you kissed me back."

Did she? She didn't remember telling her brain to make her lips move against his.

When she doesn't respond, Jacob kisses her again. And she feels it now. She's kissing him too, even though she still hasn't given her lips permission to do so.

"Goodnight, honey." Jacob says. She opens her eyes and he's gone, out the window.

Bella hears Charlie climbing the stairs for bed and she knows he'll check on her. She turns off the lamp beside her bed, seconds before Charlie cracks open her door. "You awake, kiddo?" He closes the door when he gets no response.

Bella touches her lips and smiles.


End file.
